(726d) Effect of Action Demand Load on Operator Response Time and Accuracy

The chemical and petrochemical industries play critical roles in meeting the energy and material demands of modern society. However, the complexity and high-risk nature of these operations often expose operators to a significant cognitive workload and potential degradation of operator performance. Operator performance, however, is the most important factor associated with effective operation of a facility. To date, quantification of operator performance has proven to be extremely challenging.

There is anecdotal evidence that the operator performance can be represented by an inverse “U” shape. Even though this was anecdotal evidence prior to this study, the effect of operator load on performance has been found to be significant. The need for a reasonable engagement with the process is evidenced in this work by the increase in performance seen at low demand. Additionally, the classic pressure-performance response curve is followed with increased load, with operators in both studies industrial and student studies showing improvement at median load values. However, as expected from the pressure-performance curve, both studies indicate a degradation in performance at high demand load.

This work demonstrates that understanding the process associated demand is critical for safe and effective process operation. The results of the work indicate that guidelines and behavioral thresholds can be applied to improve process safety.